A Muslim woman was shot at on Thursday as she left a Florida mosque, and another woman was nearly run over.
Someone fired at least one gunshot at the woman as she drove away from the mosque in east Tampa, reported WTSP-TV.
She was not injured, and police have not identified or arrested a suspect.
Another Muslim woman reported a man who threw rocks at her and tried to run her off the road as she drove away from a mosque in New Tampa.
American Muslims have faced violence, threats and harassment since the Paris attacks last month, and Muslims in the Tampa area feared the backlash would worsen after the mass shooting in San Bernardino.
“It’s our worst nightmare come true,” said Hassan Shibly, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, upon learning those shooters were Muslim.
Shibly said CAIR receives near-daily reports of anti-Muslim incidents from around Florida, and he called out Republican elected officials and candidates who helped stoke the hysteria.
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“The American Muslim community is proud of its contributions in society, and it’s unfortunate that certain politicians are attacking the entire Muslim faith and people for the horrendous actions of a few people,” Shibly said.
Many Muslims say anti-Muslim hysteria in US is worse than they’ve ever seen.
“We are operating in an atmosphere of hysteria and fear,” said Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American Islamic Relations. “I have never seen it like this — not even after 9/11.”
